How to get skinny for free (cause I’m a cheap and chubby)

Why do they call it a weight loss journey? To me, a journey implies a fun little trip where you can stop for ice cream along the way. The process of trying to lose weight to me is more of a hike. It involves running shoes, drinking lots of water and it is often much harder than you anticipated to reach your goal.

I am certainly not the first mother who wants to lose the mom jeans and get into skinny pants, but I am trying to reach my goal with a twist.

I want to lose weight without spending any money.

I’m not even talking about avoiding buying protein shakes, skinny pills and exercise equipment. I am talking about not spending any money at all.

Yeah, you can say I am pretty cheap.

Why should I have to spend money in order to withhold delicious carbs from my body and sweat out all my poor choices? All I need is to work my ass off (literally) and get a little creative.

The first thing I did was find a willing gym partner and then take advantage of their kindness. My sweet sister has a membership at Planet Fitness that includes unlimited guests. The first time I accompanied her to the gym I simply showed some ID and from then on out I simply had to give my phone number. Now most people would probably just get their own membership. I really do love the gym and it’s really inexpensive to sign up. They even give free tootsie rolls to the chumps like me who are too cheap to sign up. I love it-but I don’t want to pay for it.

While relying on a partner to lose weight is not always the best way to go, I always have my plan B: YouTube.

I actually love finding good quality workouts online to be able to workout in the privacy of my own home on my own schedule. I am actually working on this seven day ab routine that has made my abs hurt in the best way ever. I also love a good old Tae Bo routine. Especially one like this from back in the day where Billy Blanks sweats his butt off and there is always sexual tension between him and the blonde in the first row who keeps yelling, ‘yes sir’ with a little bit too much enthusiasm.

One of the best free weight loss options for me is to embrace running. Since I am not a natural runner, I need a little help with some good tunes and a good app to help get my butt in gear. I love C25K. I can start off slow and build my way to running a 5 k and looking good while doing it.

While exercise is part of weight loss, what I really need is a personal assistant to slap my kid’s leftover nuggets out of my hands and into the trash. Since I need a free option, My Fitness Pal is the perfect pick. I love how easy it is to find the calories on my favourite foods so I can quickly determine how much ice cream I can eat without having to skip a meal.

Of course, there is more than just fitting into a bathing suit motivating me to trim my waistline. I have three girls looking up to me to learn how to have a healthy balance. As much as this little experiment will teach them about healthy living, I am hoping they can also learn that there are ways to get what you need without spending money unnecessarily and utilizing the resources around you. #cheapandchubby